1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to the field of sporting goods; more specifically, to tackle boxes and other storage containers for equipment for fishing or other outdoor activities.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fishing dates back to more than 40,000 years ago as a means of survival. Today, in developed countries, fishing for food has mostly transformed into a commercial enterprise. However, there still exists great number of people who enjoy recreational fishing; in fact, competition fishing is a very popular sport worldwide. Recreational fishing usually employs the angler technique which involves a hook which is attached to a line which is attached to a reel which is attached to a rod. Connected to the hook is usually bait, such as a lure. Bait is a substance, usually a potential food, which is used to attract and catch a fish. A lure is an artificial device designed to mimic the appearance of a type of bait or a natural food source.
The mechanics and equipment related to angling fishing have remained fairly constant throughout time. The equipment used by fisherman includes hooks, lines, sinkers, floats, rods, reels, baits, lures, spears, nets, gaffs, traps, waders and tackle boxes. Tackle boxes are devices for transporting fishing-related accessories, such as, but not limited to, baits, lures, and tackle in general.
Tackle boxes were originally manufactured from wood, but today they are most commonly plastic. Most common tackle boxes consist of small statically separated compartments to house lures.
A lure is a type of synthetic fishing bait which is designed to attract a fish's attention. A lure uses movement, vibration, flash and color to attract fish. Many lures are equipped with one or more hooks. There are many types available, such as: a jig, surface lures, spoon lures, plugs, artificial flies, spinnerbait, swimbait, and fish decoys. Certain lures, such as artificial flies or spinnerbait, often have elongated elements made of thin material so as to imitate a fish's natural food source. A streamer fly, such as a Wooly Bugger or a Clouser Deep Minnow, are examples of artificial flies that have elongated elements. Such elongated elements often get tangled and intertwined by themselves and when placed in close proximity to similar elements, the elongated elements often tangle, like cables of earbuds when left in a pocket. The lures are less functional, or nonfunctional, when the elements are intertwined. Untangling elements is frustrating for a recreational fishermen and problematic in a competitive fishing setting. The time spent untangling elements is simply wasted because the problem does not have to occur.
Today, one of the only known methods of reducing the frequency of the tangling of such elements is to have individual compartments within a tackle box for each lure, which is usually a drawer or tray configuration. This often results in larger, more cumbersome tackle boxes.
A number of other solutions for reducing the likelihood of tangled lures have been proposed. In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 8,468,740 to Ryckman shows an adjustable fishing tackle box. This device employs the use of guide slots and angular panels with spaced slots. This device, and ones similar to it, suffer from the drawback of lures having the potential to become intertwined with each other. Lures are often made of varying lengths and by design might have thin string-like attachments connected to their ends. These thin string-like attachments, when in close proximity to each other, have a tendency to become interconnected, and because of the slot design arrangement of this device, it is likely that the interconnection will occur upon transportation and operation of the device.
Sellers, in U.S. Pat. No. 8,327,576, shows a container with a removable portion with segregated compartments designed to house fishing lures. This invention has shortcomings in that the removable portion is often lost or is cumbersome for users to operate in conditions where the box was intended to be used, for instance, on a boat, which has limited space and is moving and is subject to the wake of the water. The segregated compartments also limit the type of bait which can be housed according to the fixed dimensions of the compartments.
Some commercially available devices employ separators, usually thin plastic drop-in removable portions. These removable portions can be great for cleaning purposes but leave a lot to be desired as the user must spend some time lining up a lure to fit into the drop-in inserts. This presents a problem when the speed of removal and insertion needs to be minimal, such as in competitive fishing. In addition, the tails of spinnerbait still have the ability to become intertwined with one another.
Other currently commercially available tackle boxes employ a different solutions to the problem of tangling lures, but all of them still suffer from tangling when in use. For example, the lines connected to the lures can be stretched when contained in removable divisions. These removable divisions can become dislodged when attempting to remove a single lure, which then creates a domino effect often un-securing unintended lure lines, which then defeats the purpose of the removable divisions.
Users can often find traditional tackle boxes frustrating when items being stored, such as lures, get tangled together, which can lead to the item being ruined for its intended purpose. The efficiency of a tackle box is largely a matter of user convenience. Typical users want to be able to locate the exact item they desire quickly, want to be able to extract the item from the storage compartment in an easy non-obtrusive manner, and also want to quickly return items back into the tackle box in a fashion that avoids entangling. Size is one of the main limiting factors of the storage capacity of tackle boxes.
Current devices attempt to maximize tackle storage capacity by employing various means, such as drawers, hinged compartments and hook arrangements. Adding drawers increases the cost of production due to the number of elements necessary. In addition, the drawers require a locking mechanism or else they could open during transportation or require special care. This is problematic as tackle boxes are often used on a boat, which is inherently not a smooth experience; the effects of wake could open the drawers. Some devices employ semicircular hook retainers for which a user can secure lures with hooks, which is problematic as lure hooks vary in size, and the retainers need to be sized accordingly. In addition, ease of removal is greatly reduced because the hooks have to be moved in a certain way to be removed, which is not ideal if a boat is rocking, and this is usually a process that requires two hands. These “solutions,” while better than individual boxes or one big open storage space, are still lacking as user frustration is still present as the lures are still often tangled together. Tackle box manufactures have long sought means to effectively maximize the storage capacity of the devices while maintaining a frustration-free user experience.